About Me

I'm a retired Army Nurse. I have time to travel the world on my own, on tours, or with Operation Smile where I volunteer as an operating room nurse to help fix children's cleft lip and cleft palates. I have been doing family research, in one way or another, for forty years. I welcome comments to the blog posts, or contact me at donwen (at) aol.com

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Saturday, March 12, 2011

Tsunami - Hawaii

I took the Japanese Earthquake generated tsunami threat seriously at home in Oahu, Hawaii Friday, March 11th in the early morning. When I saw the TV warnings the night of March 10th I started think and moving things around at my house - we had five hours to prepare - and after watching the video of the tsunami in Japan, which were beyond horrible, I felt I had to take it seriously. Even a few inches of water could ruin so many of my photo albums, etc.

The warning sirens went off every hour starting about 9:30 pm or so. I was relieved to think that my computer files, including my genealogy in my computer was safe, as I have everything backed up on Mozy.com in the "cloud". However one look at my computer area will show that my bookcases with photo albums on the lowest shelf would surely be ruined with just 6 inches of water in the house - well at least I put up my computer onto the chair!! Chaos!

The car packed for sleeping

I relocated many of my "treasures" from the ground floor to the 2nd floor of my condo, then just before the tsunami was to hit I left with neighbors, in our cars, to a school about a mile up the road, to listen to the radio and wait it out.. ready to sleep in the car. It only took an hour or so to realize the surge was only one to three feet on Oahu, so we went back home and I slept till noon! So I didn't see any of the news about any damage to Hawaii or California. In fact I had to view at the news program that I taped while I was gone from 3 am to 4 am. Just this morning I've been reading the news of Hawaii as the events become known. Hundreds of boats were damaged or sunk and many piers/wharfs gone or damaged. One home floated away and a hotel I've stayed in had a foot of water in Kona on the Big Island (King Kamehameha Hotel)... Places on the Big Island got most the surge - some up to 9 feet I heard. So we dodged the bullet again in Hawaii, but unfortunately the Japanese are not so lucky. I walked over to Maunalua Bay, by my house, last evening and saw the water had been very high, even almost reaching the highway. The ocean surge went onto where our (Hui Nalu Canoe Club) outrigger canoes are stored, water went through them, but didn't float any away. I think since it was a low tide at 3 am, it wasn't as bad right here as it could have been So sad - thinking of Japan's tragedy.